eea comments to the discussion paper unceea/5/9 eea comments on the discussion paper unceea/5/9 “...

EEA comments to the discussion paper UNCEEA/5/9

EEA comments on the discussion paper UNCEEA/5/9

“Integrating the Economic and the Ecosystem Approachesto the Environment in the Revised SEEA”

Jean-Louis Weber,

Advisor, European Environment Agency


The EEA supports the overall approach

• Proposal in line with EEA’s orientation, responsibility within ESEA, position taken regarding Beyond GDP and the Stiglitz report…

• In line with the discussions of the Joint Seminar EEA/Management Board and Eurostat/DIMESA, Luxembourg, Nov. 24, 2009

• Ecosystem impacts as well as feedbacks at the economic and social well-being are still the missing link in the SEEA revision


The ecosystem issue

• Ecosystems are part of the current systemic crisis: short term benefits at the expenses of long term investment, un-accounted costs, un-assessed or concealed risks, forwarding of negative impacts to others – to present or/and future generations (incomplete prices of commodities, ecological debts)…

• The economy recognizes ecosystems only as a collection of (economic) resources, as free externalities and sometimes as unwanted costs (e.g. the Deepwater platform).

• Risks of misleading environmental-economic decisions when resources/services are taken one by one: e.g. from REDD to REDD+ and even ++ (to avoid “biological leakage”); e.g. new debates on biofuels in Europe (possible threats to biodiversity, soil conservation and food security).


Source: Roy Haines-Young

The basic questions


ECOSYSTEM CAPITAL MAN-MADE CAPITAL

Land

Water

Bio-Carbon

Fauna-Flora

Functional Services

Commodities

Biod

iver

sity

Fossil energy and materials

Nat

ural

Res

ourc

es

Inputs & Residuals

Policies should embrace altogether resource use and capital maintenance: man-made as well as ecosystem

Agriculture policyRegional development

Transport/ urban policiesEnergy policy

Environmental policies


Accounts & indexes : e.g. carbon/biomass ecosystem accounts

Opening stocks by ecosystem types

• Formation of bio-C (Net Ecosystem Production)

• Withdrawals by activities

• Net transfers between ecosystems

• Returns from activities

• Imports/Exports

• Storage in the user system

• Consumption/combustion of bio-C

• Changes due to natural & multiple causes

• Change in situ bio-C storage

Final stocks by ecosystem types

• Withdrawal of bio-C

• Input-Output between sectors

• Returns of bio-C

• Imports/Exports

• Storage in the user system

• Consumption/combustion of bio-C

• Consumption/combustion of bio-C• Combustion of fossil fuel• CO2/CH4 emissions

Ecosystem Asset Account Bio-C balance

• NPP trends

• NDVI perturbation by activities

• NDVI perturbation by hazards

• NDVI perturbation by climate change

Consumption of C / Emissions of CO2 CH4

Carbon Offset Expenditures

• C taxes and subsidies• Purchase of C permits

Ecosystem C-Productivity/Health Counts

Sector Accounts (MFA, Supply & Use, IOT, Hybrid, Expenditures…)

Virtual or Embedded C in Import-Export

• Virtual or Embedded C by products

• Landscape ecological potential

• Water availability (quantity*quality)

• Biodiversity

Linkage table


Fast track implementation of ecosystem accounts in Europe by 2011/12

Stock

Natural production

Natural consumption

Storage/Accumulation

Stock

Extraction/ harvesting

Returns/ Formation (sectors)

Final Consumption (sectors)


Returns/ Formation

Final Consumption

PHYSICAL BALANCES

QUALITY/HEALTH INDEXESQUALITY/HEALTH INDEXES

LINKAGE TABLESLINKAGE TABLES

USE OF ECOSYSTEM RESOURCE

…USE OF FOSSIL RESOURCE


EMISSIONS, RESIDUALS

From resource

From fossil resource


From resource


EXPENDITURES

IMPORTS-EXPORTS

Actual

Virtual (embedded)

IMPORTS-EXPORTSIMPORTS-EXPORTS

Actual

Virtual (embedded)

To land accounts

To water accounts

To biodiversity indexes

VigourStability, integrity Resilience Taxes, voluntary payments

Ecosystems Economy

Stock

Natural production

Natural consumption


Stock





Returns/ Formation

Final Consumption

PHYSICAL BALANCES







From resource



From resource


EXPENDITURES

IMPORTS-EXPORTS

Actual

Virtual (embedded)


Actual

Virtual (embedded)

To land accounts

To water accounts



Ecosystems Economy

Stock

Natural production

Natural consumption


Stock





Returns/ Formation

Final Consumption

PHYSICAL BALANCES







From resource



From resource


EXPENDITURES

IMPORTS-EXPORTS

Actual

Virtual (embedded)


Actual

Virtual (embedded)

To land accounts

To water accounts



Ecosystems Economy

Stock

Natural production

Natural consumption


Stock





Returns/ Formation

Final Consumption

PHYSICAL BALANCES







From resource



From resource


EXPENDITURES

IMPORTS-EXPORTS

Actual

Virtual (embedded)


Actual

Virtual (embedded)

To land accounts

To water accounts



Ecosystems Economy

CC WW

LL BB

• Dual accounts of Ecosystems (EEA) and Economy (Eurostat)

• Physical accounts firstly – although exploration of sustainable benefits accounting

• 4 priority areas: Carbon [C], Land [L], Water [W] & Biodiversity [B] + embedded flows in international trade

• Deadline 2011/12 with intermediate delivery by Sept. 2010 (Post-Copenhagen, Biodiversity Year, CBD COP10), then Rio+20


Make it happen

• 50% of the SEEA is not really the SEEA… there is a need to move…

• Coarse holistic ecosystem accounts are acceptable to start, relevance matters more than accuracy:

– Key selected resources/ services: balanced quantitative accounts– Ecosystem health/state accounts based on weighted indexes, continuous ex post recording

of degradation

• Make full use of existing information systems– Statistics… (agriculture, forestry, fishery, population, national accounts…)– Earth observation systems, satellite and in situ monitoring (GEOSS)

• Start top-down:– Priority to macro assessments, physical and monetary accounts– Extension of the macro framework on the basis of experiences in voluntary countries.

• Make distinction between:– Components, resources, which are additive one by one and can be addressed bottom up

possible addition of individual statistics, monitoring data…– Systems which are only partly additive, partly non-additive (combinations, interactions…),

and in addition which are very complex… diagnosis based on observable symptoms, top down approach as the starting point, enhanced with sampling.


Issues for implementing ecosystem accounts

• Make a clear distinction between:– An interim accounting standard based on existing (although imperfect) data

and knowledge and– Longer term research on ecological processes, ecological economics and data

improvement

• Mobilize data and knowledge holders in international organisations, government agencies, NGOs, science…

• Possibility to agree on a very small set of priorities• Manage the scale issues, interactions between global, national and local

approaches• Define clear articulations within SEEA and between SEEA (incl.

ecosystems) and SNA, IPCC, future IPBES, MA, TEEB, EF…

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